organizing such an initiative will require considerable energy and commitment including oversight of your committee. i appreciate this opportunity to make this testimony before you. thank you. >> thank you. we'll go to mr. lee. >> thank you, mr. chairman, members of the committee. sixty years ago today on march 5th, 1953, the soviet leader, stalin, died and the prospects for ending the korean war improved dramatically. and we had a ceasefire agreement signed in july, july 27th, and the past 60 years has been a history in dramatic contrast. south korea has risen to be one of the world's most successful cases on how to build a free and affluent country while north korea has become a model, an exemplary failed state marked by a brutal regime that has maintained power through hereditary succession, extreme internal repression and also military extortion. my point here is that the kim dynasty, the dprk is engaged in a systemic contest for pan-korean legitimacy which is the more legitimate representative government representing the entire korean nation. it's a contest that north korea cann